Yep. Count me in as a partisan for the US of A.

Teaching historical American literature has been great fun. I prepare a short lecture about the reading, like today's "Narrative of Captivity" by Mary Rowlandson, try to explain what's going on in the story, then have discussion. Bam! it's goin' well.

I'm basically tying together the social-economic analysis I've learned from Prof. Bill Epstein, who does English lit, and Annette Kolodny's critique of American history, and using Prof. Lynda Zwinger's penchant for close reading. These have been the profs I've learned the most from, and I'm enjoying attempting to play "real professor" for a while. That is, trying to act like a repository and serious teacher of content.

It's fun work, baby. The content is new to me, most importantly. Also, it's meaningful to me to talk about the history of our section of North America. White colonists, women, American Indians, black slaves, foreign attacks, the birth of a nation, imperial ambitions -- all up to today. Damn, this stuff is interesting and fun to me.

And importantly, this real content offers a way to talk about aspects of American culture within a historical framework.

I'm also doing quizzes. Don't worry, I'm using the most basic language that I can use when in front of the class.

Hey, I could do this for a living! I just got to be like my BV instructor Dan Toft -- Old School.